Winner of the 2008 Costa Children’s Book Award.

Costa Book Awards 2008 Judges' comment: "A gripping and masterful tale of the power of cinema, photography and friendship in one boy's life."

Warmhearted and full of period detail, Just Henry is a wonderful story of growing up and seizing life’s opportunities. It’s post war Britain and life should be getting better for all – and some things are. But Henry finds an increasing number of unanswered questions about his life and gradually, as he learns the answers, he finds his life is rather different from how it had seemed. As ever, Michelle Magorian gets to the emotional heart of issues.

Other titles shortlisted for the prestigious 2008 Costa Children's Book Award (formerly the Whitbread Award) are The Carbon Diaries, Ostrich Boys and Broken Soup. The winner of the award will be announced on Tuesday 6th January.

The Lovereading comment:

From the award winning author of Goodnight Mister Tom comes a brand new page turning tale. The story itself is very exciting, rich with detail and has a very sympathetic main character. Henry is a boy who’s lost his father in the war. He joins a film club of boys with similar family problems and together they make an extraordinary discovery that changes their lives forever. Michelle Magorian has painted a spellbinding and shrewd picture of post-war Britain. Be sure to check out A Spoonful of Jam, A Little Love Song, Cuckoo In The Nest by the same author.

Synopsis

From the award-winning author of "Goodnight Mister Tom" comes "Just Henry": a gripping mystery-thriller and an insightful snapshot of time, set in post-war Britain. It's 1949 and life is bleak for Henry. He misses his father who died a war hero, and he escapes from his annoying stepfather and stepsister whenever he can and goes to the cinema - his passion.One day in the cinema queue he meets Mrs Beaumont who also loves films, and lends Henry a camera for his school project. Henry is disgusted that he's been put in a group with Jeffries, the son of a man who went AWOL, and Pip, who was born illegitimate; but he's about to learn that tolerance and friendship are more important than social stigmas.Henry will need his new friends when he processes the film and makes an alarming discovery.Like a bomb waiting to explode, Henry's world is about to unravel.

Reviews

About the Author

Michelle Magorian is undoubtedly one of the pre-eminent children’s writers of historical family drama and of books set around the Second World War. She may not be a household name but that’s purely because she doesn’t write as frequently as those more obvious bestselling novelists. Just Henry is just published and is her seventh novel. Like all her previous ones it has been eagerly awaited and hugely acclaimed. Unlike some authors Magorian writes when the time is right having first undertaken considerable research, followed by a lot of thinking time before actually putting pen to paper and then there’s always the very important rewrites to polish the story. Magorian loves the research and the writing in equal measure but particularly loves writing dialogue.   Interestingly, Magorian’s first love when she was younger was to be an actress but she also loved writing and day dreaming – the perfect combination for a successful novelist. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation